11 results for 'cat:"Environment" AND cat:"Native Americans"'.
J. Tunheim grants motions for summary judgment brought by the EPA, state regulators and major iron and steel industry players in the Native American bands' suit alleging that the agency failed to consider impacts on wild rice and fish protected by treaty rights when it approved Minnesota's 2021 water quality standards. The agency's decision was based on science and data in which it and one of the state regulators are experts, and therefore its decision was not arbitrary or capricious. Minnesota's alleged struggles to implement and enforce those standards are also not a factor that the agency must consider in deciding whether to approve them.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tunheim, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 0:22cv1783, NOS: Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, environment, native Americans
J. Zilly denies the trucking company's motion to modify or vacate the consent decree entered on Dec. 8, 2020, regarding the government's complaint accusing the trucking company of violating the Clean Water Act by discharging fill material into wetlands and streams. The trucking company asserts that wetlands separated from other United States waters by man-made dikes or barriers do not count as adjacent wetlands, but the case the trucking company cites recognizes that the CWA prevents a landowner from carving out wetlands from federal jurisdiction using a barrier.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Zilly, Filed On: December 8, 2023, Case #: 2:18cv747, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, native Americans, Water
J. Du grants the government’s motion to dismiss this suit brought by the Indian Tribes seeking to block construction of a lithium mine near Thacker Pass, Nevada. The tribes say that a certain clause in the plan of operations shows that the Bureau of Land Management authorized violations by not terminating the mining company’s prior permits when its record of decision was issued, which is not plausible. Without any violation of the plan, the land management claim is implausible, though the tribes are granted leave to amend.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Du, Filed On: November 9, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv70, NOS: Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision - Other Suits, Categories: environment, Government, native Americans
J. Riggs finds that no occupying country or government, including Mexico, Spain, or the U.S., ever extinguished the aboriginal water rights of the Pueblo Indians because none of the countries took actions to intervene or reduce the tribe's use of the Jemez Valley River Basin.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Riggs, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 6:83cv1041, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: environment, native Americans, Water
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J. Coughenour denies the tribe summary judgment for its claim that the electric utility company did not obtain a project-specific certification from the Washington Department of Ecology for its October 2020 stabilization work, which arises from the government and the tribe's lawsuit alleging that the electric utility company wrongfully discharged field turf and crumb rubber into the Puyallup River. It is not entirely clear if an additional 401 notification was required when the electric utility company already obtained a joint aquatic resources permit.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Coughenour, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv1746, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, Government, native Americans
J. Clark affirms the state government department's July 2023 orders denying stays regarding the property owners' claim that the water diversions from the Upper Klamath Lake (UKL) would not have caused substantial harm to the Klamath Tribe. Diverting the water from UKL as the property owners intended would have brought UKL to lake levels that would leave the tribe's water rights unfulfilled, which qualifies as substantial harm because that would deprive the tribe, fish listed under the Endangered Species Act, and senior appropriators of the necessary water.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Clarke, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv930, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: environment, native Americans, Water
J. Conley orders Enbridge to stop operating portions of its oil and gas pipeline on the Chippewa tribe's reservation lands within three years, in part given Enbridge has been found to be trespassing on the lands under expired easements and the potential environmental impacts of ongoing riverbed erosion damaging the pipeline. Enbridge is also ordered to pay the tribe $5.1 million in damages for trespass calculated based on profits it netted while trespassing, additionally pay the tribe for each quarter it continues to trespass and adopt a modified, "more conservative" version of its proposed emergency shutdown plan for the pipeline. An immediate shutdown of the pipeline is not ordered, as the threat of rupture is not imminent and such an abrupt shutdown could severely disrupt markets for oil and natural gas and burden low-income energy consumers.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: June 16, 2023, Case #: 3:19cv602, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: environment, Tort, native Americans
J. Kuntz rules in favor of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on a lawsuit brought by the Unkechauge Indian Nation for equitable relief that seeks to challenge the agency’s statutory authority over their people’s right to freely fish in waterways located upon its reservation lands, arguing it violates their sovereign and religious rights. The agency had requisitioned citizens’ fishing equipment and issued criminal summonses in an effort to curtail overfishing of the American eel, whose populations over the years has dropped significantly since the 1990s. Precedent holds that indigenous communities are not immunized from reasonable, non-discriminatory regulations related to conservation efforts.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Kuntz, Filed On: June 16, 2023, Case #: 2:18cv1132, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, native Americans